New Election Map.Gear up for the Vice-Presidential debate tonight by checking
out the latest iteration of the red-blue state election map. I like this one
from “Real Clear Politics,” which crunches state numbers by averaging results
from several national polls.

In this opinion-editorial piece that
appeared in the Des Moines Register on
Monday, retired educator and school principal Joe Millard makes the case for geography,
urging state officials to increase global education offerings.

Geography teacher Daniel
Raven-Ellison of Thatcham, England, traveled to Mumbai, Mexico City,and Londonto look at urban
development trends--from street level, through photography. His methodology:
Walk across the entire city. Snap a picture every eight steps. Combine images
into a stop-motion film photo montage. His goal: Show cities objectively, as
they really are. “I wanted to show the changing face of the city from ground
level. Urban Earth is about challenging the way we see the world. We see most
of our urban environments through the screen of the car door. This aims to show
what the cities are really like and reclaim the streets.” It’s an important
task in this, the first year in human history when more than 50% of people live
in cities. Check out Daniel’s
blog for more on the project.

Now, when you’re using Google maps to find one of the
billion “Tony’s New York Pizzerias” in the Big Apple, you can determine whether to
walk, bike, bus, hop on the metro, or grab a cab to get there.

Senator Paul Simon Study
Abroad Foundation Act.This bill you’ve probably never heard of, but may be
interested in, endeavors to expand study abroad opportunities. My
Wonderful World is a huge proponent of study abroad, of course! For many of our
staff, including myself, the opportunity to study in a foreign country during
college was a truly transformational, life-changing experience.